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Interpol’s Operation Sentinel Nets 574 Arrests Across Africa, Recovers $3 Million

The AFJOC-led push underscores a growing Africa-wide partnership with private firms to build capacity against increasingly sophisticated attacks.

Overview

  • Running from October 27 to November 27 with participation from 19 countries, the operation removed over 6,000 malicious links and decrypted six ransomware variants.
  • Interpol linked the investigated cases to estimated financial losses exceeding $21 million.
  • Senegalese authorities halted a $7.9 million business email compromise transfer targeting a petroleum company by freezing destination accounts.
  • In Ghana, a ransomware attack on a financial institution encrypted about 100 TB of data and stole roughly $120,000, with a law enforcement tool restoring 30 TB and multiple arrests following.
  • Authorities dismantled a cross-border fraud network in Ghana and Nigeria that stole over $400,000 from 200+ victims, and Benin reported 106 arrests with 43 malicious domains and 4,318 scam-linked social media accounts taken down.